My Cleaning Schedule

           

As you know, I have now been approved for 2 hours of  home help a week. It has been a difficult time lately with a fibromyalgia flare that never seems to end. 

I have my sister here with us for the moment, so having some extra help especially in bedmaking, will help me immensely.

Just keeping the washing up to date, menu planning, cooking, dishes, food shopping, bill paying, and organising medicines for the week and ordering them from the doctor and chemist, is enough for me to cope with.

So this extra 2 hours will help me immensely. Maybe then my fibromyalgia flare will finally go away!

 

WEEK - MEL-6/9/2024

KITCHEN

MY BED AND CHRIS' BED

TOILETS/ ENSUITE

FLOORS

WEEK - TANYA -13/9/2024

KITCHEN

GUEST BED AND MY BED

TOILETS/ENSUITE

FLOORS

WEEK - MEL- 20/9/2024

KITCHEN

GUEST BED AND MY BED

TOILETS / SHOWER

FLOORS

WEEK - TANYA- 27/9/2024

KITCHEN

GUEST BED AND MY BED 

TOILETS / SHOWER

FLOORS

The only perk of being old

 

As you probably know, I have been feeling really unwell since I had RSV and this has coincided with a severe fibromyalgia flare from helping my sister move.

My Aged Care case manager came and visited me last week and she could see I wasn't coping too well with everything. 

She told me that I could have a cleaner come weekly instead of fortnightly from next week onwards. I was truly blessed to hear that.

I can have one of the beds changed each visit and alternate other chores like stovetop cleaning and shower cleaning.

It is good timing for me too. My Roombas have all died together... they seem to have a 2 year lifetime..

Anyway, knowing help is coming has lifted my spirits.  I guess getting the Aged Care Home Care package is the only perk of being old...

It doesn't take much!

As you know, we have my sister here with  us until she finds a new rented home. She's been here for 8 weeks now and I have been taking care of her.

My twin, like me, has fibromyalgia, heart and lung problems and has recently had RSV. It went through our house.

But until I am diagnosed, she is alone in suffering with Lupus. There's a question mark over whether or not I have it too. We are mirror image identical twins.

So suffice it to say, I have been looking after her and part of that is making sure she eats well. 

As I told you in a previous post nutrition can extend our life and certainly makes for a more pleasurable life. So I made sure my sister was eating lots of vegetables and fruits and red meat at least 3 times a week.

At her last doctors visit before moving in with us, she was told that the Lupus had made her very anemic so much so that she needed an iron infusion. She didn't cook much when she did cook... and sometimes her diet was not very nutritious. 

So, as I mentioned she's been with us for two months and her new doctor- (our doctor) ordered baseline blood tests. The results showed her iron has improved and she no longer needs an iron infusion.

This reinforced my belief that good plain homemade meals made from scratch with lots of vegetables and fruits, help extend one's life. The proof is there in the blood tests, for the life is in the blood. 

By eating well and staying well nourished, life can be made more enjoyable and prolonged. All it takes is a balanced diet and a little thought in purchasing our food. It doesn't take much! 

We walk that path together.

 

It's a sad fact that lately Chris and I wake up each morning feeling exhausted. We can sleep for 8 hours or sometimes 9 and still feel tired.

We ache all over and carry the "just woken up" brain fog all day. Our morning routine consists of bloods to check the blood sugar levels and then an insulin injection for Chris followed by a hearty breakfast of pills swallowed down with a nice cup of tea.

Our love language is spoons and our song of lamentation is that we don't have any or that it won't be sufficient for the day's activities. We live just to take another nana or grandpa nap.

Of course I have a double whammy of woes, with my diabetes and fibromyalgia. The pain never departs except for the brief few minutes Chris rubs my feet. I have the combined effects of peripheral neuropathy, in my toes especially and the foot pain that comes with fibro.

With ongoing chronic fatigue, I am certain to fall sleep just 5 minutes into my foot rub. I joke and tell Chris that these days it's better than sex!... only between us- I think it's true! I mean when everything hurts and it's hard to breathe with angina and pulmonary hypertension, foot rubs now are the only pleasure in life that steadies my breathing and still relaxes me..

And talking of breathing, that RSV flu type virus is still hanging around. Not as bad, but bad enough to have me keep my asthma puffers strategically placed at my dining table, computer desk and bedside. It too drains my energy and adds to the joy of a fibromyalgia flare.

Statistics show that more women have fibromyalgia than men, but I often wonder if Chris' chronic fatigue and constant body pains are indeed fibro... there's no particular test to find out, but it wouldn't surprise me at all...

Meanwhile, he lives the horrible life of a fibromite, but at least he doesn't have to validate himself with me. We walk that path together...